Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (AuGF) may have concluded plans to commence a forensic audit of major revenue generating agencies of the Federal government before the end of the year.
The agencies that will come under the first phase of the service-wide exercise include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Ports Authority( NPA), Nigeria Maritime Security Administration Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
Other revenue generation agencies, special fund agencies and major spending departments of the Federal government will fall in the second phase of the exercise.
Ahead of commencement of the exercise, tension and anxiety has mounted in some of the organisations as management and operating officers are not sure of the extent of the audit and what the outcome would be.
A source at the Audit House reportedly said the present audit has gone beyond the routine exercise, as it as linked with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The source explained that the Audit House is worried about the state of the nation’s s public finances, particularly as public expenditure is grossing above the nation’s revenues.
In the 2024 budget, for instance, the source said N9.18trillion out of N32 trillion Federal government budget is expected to be financed from borrowings.
The source said the proposed audit would focus on key areas of “performance, compliance and deployment of Information and Communication Technology”.
“The intention of the Audit House is to submit the audited accounts as quickly as possible” the source explained, adding that the current leadership of the Audit House is against a situation whereby those indicated by previous audit exercises retired several years before the reports indicting them were submitted to the National Assembly for necessary action.
In line with the new thinking, the Auditor General for the Federation, Shaakaa Kanyitor, recently launched a strategic plan that covers 2024- 2028.
Under the plan launched by Secretary to the Government of the Federation ( SGF), Senator George Akume, about two months ago, the Auditor General intends to deploy his personnel to cover about 1,023 agencies of the Federal government and about 103 diplomatic missions abroad.
The AuGF was, however, said to be grossly handicapped to carry out the ambitious project with an inadequate workforce of 1,400; shortage of office accommodation and slim budget of about N2billion in the 2024 Appropriations Act.
Besides, the AuGF is said to be operating with an archaic law that was first enacted in 1956, which has lost its relevance with current realities.
* Media Report